1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to guided insertion of electrical pins into electrical connectors and to retention confirmation of such electrical pins. In particular, the invention relates to an improved apparatus for guided pin insertion that assists in assuring a correctly “pinned” electrical connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
The proper insertion of electrical pins into electrical connector bodies is often a tedious and time consuming process requiring significant manual dexterity and long-term concentration, both being highly error prone. A single “mis-wire” can have catastrophic consequences for the down-stream user of the resultant wiring harness.
Accordingly, it is known in the art to provide pin insertion assistance devices for use in properly “pinning” or inserting pins in corresponding electrical connectors. Specifically, the following list of U.S. patents and applications disclose inventions related to pinning devices and each is incorporated herein by this reference: 4,658,212, 4,658,503, 4,757,606, 4,787,138, 4,803,778, 4,864,718, 4,947,546, 4,949,451, 5,083,370, 5,689,191, 6,116,935, 6,447,346, 6,489,780, 6,799,370, 6,989,895, 7,243,415, 7,270,565, 20060185158, and 20070277372. However, such devices do not provide the advantages of the embodiments of the present invention. Such embodiments significantly reduce or eliminate mis-wiring errors and visually aide pin placement with proper insertion and retention force.